Kazakhstan Home - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 1 - 6 of 144

Central Asia’s Growing Domestic Drug Problem

It’s in the headlines every few days now in Central Asian countries. February 1 – Uzbekistan’s law enforcement agencies report raiding a laboratory producing synthetic drugs, and seizing narcotics worth more than $800,000. February 3 – Uzbek law enforcement announces that their latest counter-narcotics operation has resulted in the seizure of 111 kilograms of illegal drugs. February 10 – police in Kyrgyzstan’s northern Chuy region seize 1.5 kilograms of hashish and 1 kilogram of marijuana. February 11 – Kazakhstan’s Committee for National Security (KNB) announces it had uncovered a laboratory in Almaty region that was producing synthetic drugs. More than 15 kilograms of these synthetic drugs were seized and 200 liters of precursor materials. In the first decade after the five countries of Central Asia became independent in 1991, many of the reports from foreign media were about Central Asia being a major transit route for narcotics coming out of Afghanistan that were for buyers in Russia and Europe. Thirty years later, drugs are still coming into Central Asia from Afghanistan, but it is no longer just opium and heroin. And now it seems a good portion of these illicit narcotics are being consumed in Central Asia. Made in Central Asia Drug-producing laboratories are multiplying, and while there are no precise figures for the number of addicts, it is clear an increasing number of young people in Central Asia are using drugs. Ashita Mittal, the regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Central Asia, said in January 2025 that during the “last several years in just Kazakhstan, law enforcement agencies have uncovered and destroyed 87 laboratories producing synthetic drugs, and in Kyrgyzstan about 11-12.” Law enforcement agencies in Kazakhstan said earlier in January that they had destroyed 63 laboratories producing illegal narcotics just in 2024. Tajikistan’s Agency for Narcotics Control said at the end of its Kuknor-2024 counter-narcotics campaign in December 2024 that it had confiscated more than 1 ton of synthetic drugs. The synthetic drugs most often mentioned in these seizures are mephedrone, a type of amphetamine and stimulant that causes euphoria, and a-PvP, another stimulant. However, there are many types of synthetic drugs now available in Central Asia. Batum Estebesova, director of Kyrgyzstan’s Sotsium drug rehabilitation center, said the variety of synthetic drugs is increasing quickly. “We can’t keep up with all the new drugs to add them to the list of prohibited substances,” Estebesova said. UN Office on Drugs and Crime representative Mittal said part of the problem comes from Afghanistan. Mittal noted in 2023, there was a 95 percent reduction in heroin production in Afghanistan, but at the same time there was an “exponential growth” in the production of methamphetamines crossing into the bordering Central Asian countries – Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In May 2023, Uzbek border guards noticed some strange marking on several boxes of pomegranate juice coming from Afghanistan. Testing showed bottles of juice in those boxes contained methamphetamine. Apparently, the buyers intended to evaporate the liquid and then collect...

Central Asia Home Life & Culture Kazakhstan Life & Culture Kazakhstan Features Kazakhstan Featurees Kazakhstan Home

Kazakhstan Shines at 2025 Asian Winter Games with 20 Medals

As the 2025 Asian Winter Games drew to a close, Kazakhstan's athletes finished in a very impressive fourth place out of 34 nations in the medals table. With the competition held in the Chinese city of Harbin, the host nation dominated the events, winning a total of 85 medals, including 32 gold. South Korea followed in second place with 45 medals (16 gold), while Japan finished third with 37 medals, 10 of which were gold. Kazakhstan won 20 medals, including four gold. The team was led by biathletes Vladislav Kireyev and Vadim Kurales, who claimed first and second place, respectively, in the sprint event. Kazakhstan’s skiers and freestylers also contributed to the medal tally. Olzhas Klimin secured bronze in the 10 km freestyle race, while Konstantin Bortsov won silver in the sprint. In freestyle skiing, Roman Ivanov and Sherzod Khashirbayev triumphed in synchronized jumping, while Ardana Makhanova and Ayana Zholdas earned bronze in the women’s competition. Kazakhstan also excelled in team events. The men’s hockey team won gold, while the women’s team took silver. In cross-country skiing, the women’s 4×5 km relay team claimed silver, and the men’s 4×7.5 km relay team secured bronze. In speed skating, Kazakhstan won bronze in the team sprint, with Yevgeny Koshkin taking silver in the 100-meter race. The country’s short track speed skaters added to the medal count with gold in the men’s 5000-meter relay and silver in the women’s 3000-meter relay. Uzbekistan’s only medal came in figure skating, where Ekaterina Gainish and Dmitry Chigirev won gold in the pairs competition. China reaffirmed its dominance in winter sports. In speed skating, Ning Zhongyan, the 2024 world sprint all-around champion, and Han Mei, a two-time world championship medalist, stood out. In short track speed skating, South Korea’s three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jung and 2019 world champion Park Ji-won delivered impressive performances. Meanwhile, China’s Xu Mengtao, the 2022 Olympic champion, claimed gold in freestyle skiing acrobatics. The next edition of the Asian Winter Games is set to take place in 2029 in Saudi Arabia.

Central Asia Home International Affairs Kazakhstan Kazakhstan International Affairs Features Kazakhstan Featurees Kazakhstan Home

Why Kazakhstan’s Tokayev Was Right About Diplomacy in Ukraine

When the history of the war in Ukraine is written, one question demanding extended treatment will be why diplomacy remained sidelined for so long. Conflicts involving major powers and their proxies have in recent decades (think of Korea, Vietnam, and the Balkans) finished mainly not in outright military victories but in negotiated settlements. Now, with reports of U.S. President Donald Trump reaching directly out to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, it is important to reassess why the long-standing insistence on diplomacy by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was not met with more support. Tokayev’s early insistence on negotiations was instead met with scepticism. As the war ground on, Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive (planned and mandated by Western advisors) failed while Russia’s entrenchment in the occupied territories continued. The fact that a Trump–Putin call has taken place, bypassing European leaders, underscores the shift of view in Washington. Kazakhstan’s foreign policy approach to the war in Ukraine has been dictated by its unique geopolitical position. As a founding member of both the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Kazakhstan’s economic and security ties to Russia are extensive. At the same time, its leadership has consistently pursued a multivector foreign policy, balancing engagement with China, the European Union, and the United States. Tokayev’s refusal at the June 2022 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to recognize the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics signalled Kazakhstan’s commitment to sovereignty and neutrality. In November 2022, Kazakhstan began to reduce Moscow’s leverage over its energy sector by sending oil for export via the Caspian Sea, into pipelines in the South Caucasus, bypassing the established route through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium via southern Russia. Had global policymakers taken Tokayev’s warnings more seriously in 2022 and 2023, certain escalations might have been mitigated. Kazakhstan was not alone in advocating for negotiations. Turkey brokered a grain shipment deal in 2022, and the Vatican attempted discreet backchannel diplomacy. However, Kazakhstan’s deep historical and economic ties to Russia gave its perspective unique weight. Kazakhstan’s approach was pragmatic. Western states viewed engagement as legitimizing Russian aggression. From Central Asia, however, the view was that indefinite warfare would destabilize Eurasia and inflict mounting costs on all stakeholders, not least Moscow. The West dismissed calls for diplomacy as naïve or as concessions to Moscow. Western leaders continued to believe military pressure, coupled with economic sanctions, was the only viable means of deterring Russian aggression. This may have been true if the military pressure had been an order of magnitude stronger from the beginning, rather than a slow drip of weapons systems that never had a chance of making a decisive difference. The reluctance of Western leaders to consider early diplomacy was not entirely unfounded. The atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha and Mariupol made any engagement politically fraught. Ukraine, emboldened by Western military aid, had every reason to resist diplomatic settlements that would lock in its territorial losses. Smaller states often possess a more acute awareness of the dangers of prolonged...

Central Asia Home Business & Economy Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Business & Economy Kazakhstan Home

Ivanhoe Mines Begins Exploration of World’s Third-Largest Sedimentary Copper Basin in Kazakhstan

Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines has announced a joint venture with UK-based Pallas Resources to explore the Chu-Sarysu Copper Basin in Kazakhstan - the world’s third-largest sediment-hosted copper basin, containing 27 million tons of known copper. Exploration Plans and Investment Ivanhoe Mines has acquired an initial 20% equity stake in the joint venture and has committed $18.7 million in exploration expenditure over the next two years. License applications, submitted in Q4 2024, cover an area of approximately 16,000 km². Pallas Resources has digitized extensive Soviet-era geological data covering the license area. Initial analysis has identified multiple potential copper targets, which will be further explored following an airborne geophysics survey later this year. After the initial two-year phase, Ivanhoe has the option to increase its stake by investing up to $115 million over the next four years, depending on how much of the license area it retains. If a major copper deposit is discovered, Ivanhoe can secure up to an 80% equity stake by financing and completing a pre-feasibility study. Significance of the Chu-Sarysu Basin Ivanhoe Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland emphasized Kazakhstan’s importance as a key mining jurisdiction and home to one of the world’s most significant copper basins. “The Ivanhoe Group has a long history in Kazakhstan... and we look forward to returning to this tremendous country to further unlock the significant geological potential of the Chu-Sarysu Basin,” Friedland said. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Chu-Sarysu Basin contains an estimated 25 million tons of undiscovered copper, further underscoring its untapped potential. The basin is also known to contain lead, zinc, silver, barium, and strontium deposits. Kazakhstan’s Mining Industry Kazakhstan is already a global leader in mineral production: World’s largest uranium producer. Second-largest chromite producer. Major producer of copper, zinc, iron ore, and coal. Mining and quarrying contribute approximately 14% of Kazakhstan’s GDP and 17.5% of its total exports, valued at around $10.5 billion.

Central Asia Home Kazakhstan Local Politics Local Politics Kazakhstan Features Kazakhstan Featurees Kazakhstan Home

Kazakhstan Proposes Foreign Agents Law for NGOs and Media

Members of Kazakhstan’s parliament have proposed adopting a law on foreign agents, requiring media outlets and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive foreign funding to disclose their financial sources. The initiative, put forward by deputies from the People's Party of Kazakhstan (PPK), has sparked debate within the country’s political and expert circles. Push for Greater Transparency Irina Smirnova, a deputy from the PPK, a party that won 10 of the 98 seats in the 2023 parliamentary elections, publicly announced the proposal. The PPK is currently the third-largest political force in Kazakhstan, following AMANAT and Ak Zhol. Citing open-source data, Smirnova claimed that approximately 200 NGOs in Kazakhstan receive foreign funding, with around 70% of these organizations reportedly financed by sources from the United States. She added that, in an official capacity, Kazakhstan has received grants from 165 different foreign donors, including 53 international organizations, 31 foreign government entities, and 81 foreign NGOs. “Financial and material-technical assistance to Kazakhstani NGOs is also provided by other foreign structures, including embassies that are not listed among these donors,” Smirnova stated. According to her, much of this foreign support is directed toward projects related to media and freedom of speech, the protection of vulnerable groups, democracy promotion, civil society development, liberal reforms, and fostering civic engagement. “And even specialists cannot always determine which resources are friendly and where we must be cautious to avoid exposure to ‘destructive soft power,’” she said. “This is a problem and a challenge for our entire society.” As a solution, the PPK is calling for a reassessment of certain NGOs operating in what it describes as a “gray zone” and a revision of the regulations governing foreign donors in Kazakhstan. Following Global Trends Smirnova cited international examples of foreign agent laws, noting that similar regulations exist in Israel (since 2016), China (since 2017), Australia (since 2018), the United Kingdom (since 2023), and France (since 2024). She also pointed to the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), enacted in 1938, as a model for regulating individuals and organizations acting in the interests of foreign entities. She argued that Kazakhstan should adopt a similar law, mandating foreign-funded media and NGOs to disclose their financial sources. The proposed legislation would also outline penalties for failing to comply with registration requirements or deviating from declared activities. At the same time, the PPK suggested introducing exemptions for humanitarian and scientific organizations that receive foreign funding. Expert Skepticism The proposal has received a lukewarm response from Kazakhstan’s political analysts. Analyst Islam Kurayev dismissed the idea, arguing that Kazakhstan’s existing legal framework already regulates foreign funding and foreign-affiliated entities. “MP Irina Smirnova has been in the [parliament, the Mazhilis] for several years and should be aware that such a law is unnecessary,” Kurayev wrote on his Telegram channel. “The reason is simple: Kazakhstan’s legislation already contains provisions regulating foreign financing and individuals connected to third countries. These regulations are embedded in various legal acts, meaning the necessary restrictions are already in place. There is no need...

Central Asia Home Business & Economy Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Business & Economy Features Kazakhstan Opinions Kazakhstan Featurees Kazakhstan Home

Kazakhstan is Striving for Investment Amid “Resource Nationalism”

Amid the war in Ukraine, as well as various geopolitical turbulences that threaten to fundamentally change the current global order, Kazakhstan is aiming to attract more foreign investment. The war in Ukraine has so far had a relatively positive impact on the economies of most Central Asian nations, giving Astana room to achieve its ambitious goal of attracting $150 billion in foreign direct investment by 2029. Kazakhstan, along with other neighboring actors, used the Russian invasion of Ukraine to develop closer economic ties with the West, namely with the European Union. It is therefore no surprise that, in 2022 and 2023, the EU member Netherlands invested over $12 billion in the Kazakh economy, making it the leading foreign investor. The United States, according to the official statistics, is the second-largest investor, with Switzerland rounding out the top three. Although between 2005 and its total foreign direct investment (FDI) reached $402 billion, Kazakhstan’s innovation agenda aims to attract $150 billion of FDI in the next five years while doubling the country’s GDP. The problem is that in 2023 the inflow of foreign direct investment into Kazakhstan decreased by 32.3%, which suggests that Astana may have a hard time finding ways to attract more capital into the Kazakh economy. Experts claim that there is no comprehensive development strategy for both industries and regions in Kazakhstan, which limits investments in its economy. But the creation of platforms with tax preferences, an independent regulator, and a regulatory environment based on the principles of British law are believed to contribute to the active development of entrepreneurship. In other words, the authorities in Kazakhstan are using a model based on practices in Britain and the United Arab Emirates to attract investment, drawing inspiration from the British Common Law system, as well as the Dubai International Financial Center, which served as a reference for the Astana International Financial Center. Given that both Kazakhstan and the UAE are economies based on fossil fuel exports, it is unlikely to be a coincidence that Astana aims to use Abu Dhabi’s experiences to improve its existing arrangements with foreign corporations operating in Kazakhstan. "Large investments require a long-term planning horizon. Therefore, the government will have to intensify negotiations regarding the extension of production sharing agreements contracts on the updated terms, favorable to the country," Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on January 28, as foreign companies reportedly claim that Astana is seeking to increase its shares in key oil and gas projects in what amounts to "resource nationalism". At the same time, the Kazakh government seeks to create a favorable investment climate for foreign companies by reducing bureaucratic obstacles, introducing tax breaks, eliminating financial audits, and ensuring the protection of the legal rights of investors. Kazakhstan has also recently introduced a Digital Nomad visa (also called a 'Neo Nomad' visa), which grants foreign nationals the right to reside in the country while working for a foreign employer. Such a move can be interpreted as another attempt to attract foreign investment in Kazakhstan. ...